The New York Times: First Bird Flu Death In U.S. Reported In Louisiana
A Louisiana patient who had been hospitalized with severe bird flu has died, the first such fatality in the United States, state health officials reported on Monday. The patient was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, the officials said. The individual became infected with the bird flu virus, H5N1, after exposure to a backyard flock and wild birds. There is no sign that the virus is spreading from person to person anywhere in the country, and Louisiana officials have not identified any other cases in the state. (Mandavilli and Anthes, 1/6)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Reports First Case Of Bird Flu Detected In Domestic Flock In 2025
State and federal officials confirmed bird flu in a backyard flock in Clinton County. This is Iowa’s first detection of H5N1 with domestic birds in 2025. Poultry producers and people with backyard flocks should contact their veterinarian immediately if they see signs of a possible infection. This includes sudden deaths and birds with low energy, diarrhea or difficulty breathing. (Cramer, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: In California's Central Valley, Lack Of Wastewater Testing For Bird Flu A Blind Spot 
As the H5N1 bird flu virus continues to rip throughout California’s dairy herds and commercial poultry flocks, a Central Valley state official is raising concern about the lack of wastewater surveillance in the region. State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) has been frustrated by what she says are gaps in tracking the bird flu’s spread in the Central Valley, where many of the state’s most vulnerable people — dairy and poultry workers — live and work. (Gomez and Rust, 1/6)

On HMPV —

The New York Times: What We Know About HMPV, The Virus Spreading In China 
Reports of a surge in cases of a respiratory virus in China have evoked dark echoes of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic almost exactly five years ago. But despite the surface similarities, this situation is very different, and far less worrisome, medical experts say. ... HMPV is similar to a virus that is better known in the United States — respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V. It causes symptoms much like those associated with flu and Covid, including cough, fever, nasal congestion and wheezing. (Nolen, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Overblown Fears Of HMPV Cases In China Reflect Pandemic Scars
An uptick of a routine virus in China ignited dire headlines and social media posts, but public health experts caution that the human metapneumovirus cases are part of the typical ebb and flow of respiratory virus seasons and are no reason to be alarmed. Chinese authorities in late December reported a rising rate of children ages 14 and under testing positive for human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, as part of a broader update on the respiratory virus season. Videos posted on social media of crowded hospitals prompted speculation about the start of another global outbreak. But respiratory diseases in China this season appear less severe and are spreading at a smaller scale compared with last year, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday. (Nirappil, 1/6)

On covid, flu, and RSV —

ABC11 Raleigh-Durham: Duke University Health System, UNC Health, UNC Health Rex Limit Patient Visitors Due To Rise Of Flu, RSV, COVID-19 
Because of the rise of respiratory illnesses in the Triangle, several hospitals are limiting patient visitations. This includes all Duke University Health System hospitals and surgery centers, and all UNC hospitals and UNC Health Rex. (1/6)

The New York Times: Paxlovid Improved Long Covid Symptoms In Some Patients, Researchers Report 
Can Paxlovid treat long Covid? A new report suggests it might help some patients, but which patients might benefit remains unclear. The report, published Monday in the journal Communications Medicine, describes the cases of 13 long Covid patients who took extended courses of the antiviral drug. Results were decidedly mixed: Nine patients reported some improvement, but only five said it lasted. Four reported no improvement at all. Perhaps more than anything, the report underscores that nearly five years after the pandemic began, there is still little known about what can help the millions of people with long Covid. (Belluck, 1/6)

KFF Health News: Biden Administration Bars Medical Debt From Credit Scores 
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday issued new regulations barring medical debts from American credit reports, enacting a major new consumer protection just days before President Joe Biden is set to leave office. The rules ban credit agencies from including medical debts on consumers’ credit reports and prohibit lenders from considering medical information in assessing borrowers. (Levey, 1/7)

More health industry updates —

Fierce Healthcare: CVS Officially Rolls Out CostVantage Model For Commercial Plans
All of the commercial prescriptions dispensed at CVS pharmacies will be processed through its CostVantage reimbursement model beginning this year, the healthcare giant announced Monday. Under the model, prescriptions are priced based on the underlying cost with a delineated markup and dispensing fee to cover the services provided by CVS in the transaction. The company says this model makes it less necessary to raise the cost for certain prescriptions to cover losses on other drugs. (Minemyer, 1/6)

Military Times: VA To Waive Co-Pays For Whole Health Medical Services
Veterans Affairs officials plan to waive co-pays for certain “well-being” health care appointments in an effort to encourage more veterans to look into services like yoga, meditation and wellness counseling. The move could potentially save patients several hundred dollars a year in medical fees, but is less focused on financial relief than emphasizing “the overall well-being of the veteran,” according to a department release. (Shane III, 1/6)

New Hampshire Public Radio: State Approves Catholic Medical Center Sale To HCA Healthcare
State officials have cleared the way for HCA Healthcare to buy Catholic Medical Center, the latest in a series of hospital mergers and acquisitions reshaping New Hampshire’s medical landscape. The Manchester hospital says it’s struggling financially, and the sale to HCA – the country’s largest for-profit hospital company – will ensure its survival. (Cuno-Booth, 1/6)

MedPage Today: Journal Editors Sound Alarm On Predatory Medical Journals 
Action by all stakeholders is required to protect authors and the public from predatory medical journals, an international group of prominent medical journal editors said Monday. "Predatory journals have developed strategies to profit by taking advantage of a climate that nurtures the growth of open access, author-pays publication models," wrote Christina Wee, MD, MPH, secretary of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, and colleagues in an editorial published simultaneously in JAMA and the Annals of Internal Medicine. "It is worrisome that despite the awareness of these entities for many years, academicians still fall prey to them." Predatory journals are those which "misrepresent themselves as scholarly journals for financial gain despite not meeting scholarly publishing standards," the editors said in their introduction. "The number of predatory journals is difficult to accurately determine but was estimated at more than 15,000 in 2021." (Frieden, 1/6)

KFF Health News: 'An Arm And A Leg': A Listener Fighting The Good Fight 
Joey Ballard is an internal medicine resident at the University of Illinois-Chicago. He wrote to “An Arm and a Leg” about a resolution the American Medical Association recently adopted calling on hospitals to do more to make sure patients who qualify for charity care get it. And that legislators and regulators make sure that’s happening. Ballard helped write that resolution. He told “An Arm and a Leg” host Dan Weissmann that he first heard about charity care after listening to an episode of the podcast. (1/7)

CNN: FDA Sets New Lower Levels For Lead In Baby Food — Critics Say That’s Not Enough
For the first time in history, the US Food and Drug Administration has established guidance for levels of lead in processed baby foods that are sold on supermarket shelves and online. The agency’s action, announced Monday, only provides guidance to industry and is not enforceable. (LaMotte, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: FDA Issues Draft Guidance For AI-Enabled Medical Devices
The Food and Drug Administration is aiming to help developers of artificial intelligence-enabled medical devices understand the agency's mindset around the technology. The agency announced Monday it was issuing draft guidance that will assist developers as they work through life cycle of their AI-enabled medical device If finalized, it would be the first guidance from the FDA to provide comprehensive recommendations for AI-enabled devices throughout the total product lifecycle. (Turner, 1/6)

Axios: Late Rule To Lower Nicotine In Cigarettes Clears Hurdle
The Biden administration is a step closer to lowering the amount of nicotine in cigarettes after an 11th-hour proposal cleared a key White House review. The Food and Drug Administration rule, whose precise language hasn't been made public, offers the administration one more chance to address the harms of smoking after it punted on banning menthol in tobacco products. (Reed, 1/7)

In other pharmaceutical developments —

AP: 2 Indian Companies Charged With Smuggling Chemicals Used In Making Fentanyl 
Two pharmaceutical companies based in India were charged Monday with smuggling chemicals used in the production of the deadly drug fentanyl, federal prosecutors in New York announced. Raxuter Chemicals and Athos Chemicals were charged in separate indictments with criminal conspiracy to distribute and import chemicals into the U.S., Mexico and elsewhere knowing they would be used to manufacture the synthetic opioid, according to U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace’s office. (1/6)

Stat: ALS Drug From Calico, Anti-Aging Company, Fails In Study
In 2013, Google announced it would attempt to understand and ultimately slow aging through a company called Calico, a moonshot effort that would absorb at least $3.5 billion in funding, spawn rampant speculation, and generate dozens of academic papers but deliver few tangible results — until Monday. The first data have now emerged from a drug Calico developed. It failed. (Mast, 1/6)

Modern Healthcare: Where Smaller PBMs Are Headed This Year
Although the pharmacy benefit manager market has long been controlled by three large, established players, many smaller PBMs are seeing a spike in interest. But the newer entrants will continue to face stiff competition this year as they seek more business. Smaller PBMs that advertise themselves as transparent have gained traction over the last few years as health insurers, employers and government entities look to deviate from the traditional spread pricing model. Many of these companies have said 2024 was their largest selling year, with an increasing number of large customers showing interest. (Berryman, 1/6)

The Hill: Key Senator Says Trump Pick RFK Jr. ‘Wrong’ On Vaccines 
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), the incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said Sunday that President-elect Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary is ‘wrong’ when it comes to vaccinations. Discussing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination on Fox News, Cassidy, a physician, said, “Vaccinations, he’s wrong on, and so I just look forward to having a good dialogue with him on that.” (Choi, Weixel and O'Connell-Domenech, 1/6)

Politico Pro: RFK Jr. Wants To End Chronic Disease. But GOP Lawmakers Are Targeting Chronic Disease Prevention Funding.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vowed to reverse the “chronic disease epidemic.” If he’s confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s health secretary, he’ll have to work with congressional Republicans who’ve targeted the arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that works on it. The potential conflict underscores the ways Trump’s health nominees, and their priorities, are shaking up the policy and budget fault lines in Congress and exposes the rift between conservative priorities and the “Make America Healthy Again” movement. (Gardner, 1/6)

On fluoride and RFK Jr. —

Stat: Does Fluoride Lower IQ? Controversy Over Academic Journal Study
A new government study reviewing past research on the safety of fluoride for children found a slight decrease in IQ scores overall as levels of fluoride exposure increase. But the authors acknowledged that many of the papers included in the new analysis had a “high risk of bias,” and they said their work was not designed to address the public health implications of water fluoridation in the U.S. The issue of fluoridation has gained national attention recently because of the rising prominence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and an outspoken critic of fluoridation. (Oza, 1/6)

On Donald Trump's agenda —

Politico: Trump’s One-Bill Pronouncement Settles Nothing: ‘We Still Need A Plan’
Less than 24 hours after Trump endorsed “one powerful bill” to carry his domestic policy agenda, a dozen senators said in interviews that the legislative path to its enactment remains an open question. It underscores the mounting confusion as Republicans feel pressure to show quick progress on border, energy and tax priorities. The stakes are huge, with the call over whether to move one bill or two having major implications for whether Trump can follow through on his campaign pledges before potentially losing unified GOP control of Washington in two years. (Perano and Carney, 1/7)

NBC News: Less Than 0.1% Of U.S. Minors Take Gender-Affirming Medication, Study Finds
As policymakers around the world debate whether minors should have access to transition-related medications, a study published Monday in the nation’s premier pediatric medical journal found that the drugs are rarely prescribed to youths. Less than 0.1% of adolescents with private insurance in the United States are transgender or gender-diverse and are prescribed puberty blockers or gender-affirming hormones, according to the findings published in JAMA Pediatrics.  (Lavietes, 1/6)

The New York Times: Pentagon Reaches Settlement With Veterans Dismissed Over Sexuality 
The Defense Department has reached a sweeping settlement with tens of thousands of people who were dismissed from military service because of their sexual identity, potentially paving the way for veterans to upgrade their discharge status and receive a range of benefits they had been denied. The settlement, which the Pentagon agreed to late last week and was filed on Monday in Federal District Court in Northern California, must still be approved by a judge. It applies to a group of more than 30,000 veterans who received less-than-honorable discharges or whose discharge status lists their sexuality. Advocacy groups had filed a class-action civil rights lawsuit in 2023 alleging that the Pentagon had failed to remedy “ongoing discrimination” after the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy more than a decade earlier. (Kavi, 1/6)

In reproductive health news —

The Guardian: Permanent Contraception Among Young Adults Surged After Roe V Wade Overturned, Study Finds 
In the months after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, permanent contraception in the form of tubal sterilizations and vasectomies surged among young adults living in states likely to ban abortion, new research released on Monday found. Compared to May 2022, when the opinion overturning Roe leaked, August 2022 saw 95% more vasectomies and 70% more tubal sterilizations performed on people between the ages of 19 and 26, according to the study, which was conducted by researchers at the George Washington University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan. (Sherman, 1/6)

MedPage Today: DoxyPEP Rollout Tied To Dent In STI Epidemic In The Real World 
A decrease in California's sexually transmitted infections (STIs) followed early real-world adoption of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP), suggesting real population-level benefits to this public health strategy. (Lou, 1/6)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Republicans Seek To Block Abortion Pills
Since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states like Texas to ban nearly all abortions, the number of pregnancy terminations in the United States actually increased. This paradox, which pleases abortion advocates as much as it frustrates their conservative counterparts, hinges mostly on pills. (Klibanoff, 1/7)

Also —

Fierce Healthcare: CMS Selects States For Medicaid Maternal Health Model 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has named 14 states plus the District of Columbia to participate in the Transforming Maternal Health Model. First announced in December 2023, the 10-year model aims to help mothers and children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through physical, mental and social guidance during and after pregnancy. (Tong, 1/7)

The Texas Tribune: Texas’ Suicide Hotline Is Buckling Under A $7M Deficit 
Thousands of Texans in need are abandoning the state’s suicide hotline mid-call every month as call centers struggle under a $7 million funding deficit and a growing suicide rate statewide. (Simpson, 1/6)

If you need help —

Dial 988 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.

AP: Judge Largely Blocks Tennessee's Porn Site Age Verification Law As Other States Enforce Theirs
A Tennessee law requiring pornographic websites to verify their visitors’ age was largely blocked in court before it was to take effect Jan. 1, even as similar laws kicked in for Florida and South Carolina and remained in effect for more than a dozen other states. On Dec. 30, U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman in Memphis ruled that Tennessee’s law would likely suppress the First Amendment free speech rights of adults without actually preventing children from accessing the harmful material in question. The state attorney general’s office is appealing the decision. (Mattise, 1/7)

NBC News: Two Death Row Inmates Reject Biden's Commutation Of Their Life Sentences
Two prisoners who are among the 37 federal inmates whose death sentences were commuted last month by President Joe Biden — a move that spares them from the death chamber — have taken an unusual stance: They're refusing to sign paperwork accepting his clemency action. The men believe that having their sentences commuted would put them at a legal disadvantage as they seek to appeal their cases based on claims of innocence. (Ortiz, 1/6)

KFF Health News: Health Care Is Newsom’s Biggest Unfinished Project. Trump Complicates That Task. 
Six years after he entered office vowing to be California’s “health care governor,” Democrat Gavin Newsom has steered tens of billions in public funding to safety net services for the state’s neediest residents while engineering rules to make health care more accessible and affordable for all Californians. More than a million California residents living in the U.S. without authorization now qualify for Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, making California among the first states to cover low-income people regardless of their immigration status. The state is experimenting with Medicaid money to pay for social services such as housing and food assistance, especially for those living on the streets or with chronic diseases. And the state is forcing the health care industry to rein in soaring costs while imposing new rules on doctors, hospitals, and insurers to provide better-quality, more accessible care. (Hart and Mai-Duc, 1/7)

The Washington Post: Prescription Drugs May Be Leaching PFAS, Toxic Chemicals Into Wastewater 
The widespread use of pharmaceuticals in America is introducing even more toxic “forever chemicals” into the environment through wastewater, according to a study released Monday, and large municipal wastewater treatment plants are not capable of fully filtering them out. ... Most of the compounds came from commonly prescribed medications including antidepressants and statins, the researchers found. (Ajasa, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Dancing May Lighten Depression From Parkinson’s, Study Suggests 
New research suggests that dancing might lighten the depression suffered by many people with Parkinson’s disease, an approach that’s accessible, inexpensive, drug free — and often a lot of fun. “I don’t know what it is, but there’s something magical about dancing,” said Joseph DeSouza, an associate professor in the faculty of health at York University and one of the study authors. “Dancing makes people with Parkinson’s feel alive and happy. It proved to be an amazing elixir.” (Cimons, 1/6)

St. Louis Public Radio: Research Shows Uptick In Concussions For Female Athletes
Concussions are a known risk for athletes playing at a recreational or professional level. They lie on the spectrum of brain injuries with symptoms including headaches, dizziness and sensitivity to light and sound after a blow to the head or neck. Discussions around concussions oftentimes focus on male athletes in sports like football. But in recent years, research has started to highlight a concerning trend. Concussions for female athletes have tripled in the past two decades. (Lewis-Thompson, 1/7)

The New York Times: Sugary Drinks Linked To Global Rise In Diabetes, Heart Disease
Across the world, the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is responsible for about 340,000 deaths each year from Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to a study published Monday that is one of the largest attempts to assess how the spread of Western eating habits is affecting global health. The study, in the journal Nature, also found that sugary drinks were linked to 2.2 million additional cases of Type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million cases of cardiovascular disease in 2020, with a disproportionate share of those cases concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. (Jacobs, 1/6)

The New York Times: I'm The Governor Of Hawaii. I've Seen What Vaccine Skepticism Can Do.
The tragedy in Samoa five years ago shows not just how lower vaccination rates can lead to a public health crisis, but also how renewed vaccination campaigns can end such crises. (Josh Green, 1/7)

Bloomberg: The US Health-Care System Is Flawed By Design 
The middlemen that comprise a growing share of America’s convoluted health-care system find themselves in a bind. The public is angry about the inflated costs and opaque dealings that govern their access to medical care. Lawmakers, despite recent setbacks, are eager to respond. Intermediaries have become an obvious target for blame and reform. (1/7)

Stat: Animosity Towards Health Insurance Is Nothing New, Expert Says 
In “Double Indemnity,” the Depression era masterpiece about insurance fraud and murder, the anti-hero Walter Huff quickly disabuses the reader from thinking of insurance as a virtuous enterprise: “You think it’s a business don’t you, just like your business, and maybe a little better than that, because it’s the friend of the widow, the orphan, and the needy in time of trouble? It’s not. It’s the biggest gambling wheel in the world.” (Katherine Hempstead, 1/7)

The Boston Globe: Surgeon General Is Right: America Has A Drinking Problem
As a physician trained in both internal medicine and pediatrics, I’ve witnessed alcohol play a starring role in the lives — and deaths — of my patients. In the emergency department, it’s the invisible force behind trauma cases, the culprit in new diagnoses of liver cirrhosis, and the reason for the muted tears of those struggling to overcome addiction. (Luis E. Seija, 1/7)

The CT Mirror: Inadequate Sex Ed In CT Schools Harms Students
Did you grow up in Connecticut? If so, did you receive sex education, and was it inclusive and comprehensive? Your answer likely depends on what town you grew up in, because Connecticut has no state sex ed requirements beyond human development and HIV/STI education. For many students, that means no information on consent, communication, healthy relationships, or contraceptives. (Kim Adamski, 1/7)

Stat: The Archive Racing To Save Journals From The Early Days Of HIV 
Every time I have moved house — too many times — the cardboard box has followed me, a reminder of my unfulfilled promise to Jon Miller. It contained his journals and letters, mostly from the last 18 months before his death from AIDS/HIV complications in 1990. (John Fleischman, 1/7)